Question 2060 vs 1660 super for old CPU (i5 4400

[digitalgriffin]

I wanna go big and upgrade my 10 year old GPU that died. I figure even if i'm bottlenecking now, I could one day move this GPU to a new system. Based on the simulations I'm running even the 1660 will be bottlenecking the CPU a bit. The super would even more and the 2060 might just be way overkill. Would it be helpful at all to spend the extra money? Like I said I might use it again on another build later, but I also might not.

That largely depends on the application and gaming resolution you run at.

As you have a 1080p/60 Monitor, and a 4th gen i5, yes the 2060 will be a bit overkill.

But as dark breeze noted, a lot of games today are getting increasingly complex and a few are GPU bound even at 1080p/60. For example take Assassin's Creed Odyssey: That is hard even on a 2060. However, games like flight simulator are typically bound by the CPU. A faster CPU is usually preferable on DX11 games as they don't thread so well.

So if you buy a 2060 today you should be okay for another year or two before you hit bottle necks @ high settings 1080p/60. Note this is a rough promise. There will be a few outliers here and there.

 

[InvalidError]

what about this one

AFAIK, Seasonic makes no PSU that get ratings worse than 'good' so practically anything from Seasonic is a reasonably safe bet.

 

[Computanoob]

AFAIK, Seasonic makes no PSU that get ratings worse than 'good' so practically anything from Seasonic is a reasonably safe bet.

But wait... I referenced the guide thread Apparently this line 12-III Is the one that they don't do that well and apparently they actually outsource it to anotherIs the one that they don't do that well and apparently they actually outsource it to another company. They don't recommend

 

[Darkbreeze]

AFAIK, Seasonic makes no PSU that get ratings worse than 'good' so practically anything from Seasonic is a reasonably safe bet.

Except that one. It's not even built by Seasonic. It's simply a Seasonic "platform" built by RSY. Previous RSY attempts at Seasonic platforms for XFX were complete failures. From what we've seen, with no actual tear down and test reviews, it's actually a downgrade in platform design and build quality from the S12II and uses Teapo caps and still lacks many protections.

Certainly it's better than a lot of power supplies out there, but IMO that's like saying getting skin cancer is better than getting pancreatic cancer. It's true, but it doesn't mean you're ending up with something you'd ever want to end up with.

There are, unfortunately, really NOT any worthwhile power supplies in the 50-60 dollar range.

This is the LEAST expensive power supply I'd recommend for anybody needing a budget 500-600w PSU that was going to be used in a gaming system, which is far harder on hardware than other, non-gaming type systems generally are.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: Corsair CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ Corsair)
Total: $74.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-11-23 20:26 EST-0500

 

[InvalidError]

There are, unfortunately, really NOT any worthwhile power supplies in the 50-60 dollar range.

The S12-II used to regularly be on sale at $30-40, then import tariffs and covid-19 happened.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Right, and I'd agree with that. The S12II USED to be a really decent budget option if you didn't have a Haswell or newer Intel platform (Or were willing to disable the C6/C7 states in the BIOS) or had an AMD platform, and didn't mind the fact that it was an older group regulated platform that lacked some protections. It was much better choice even than some newer budget units that were DC-DC. But I think those days are gone, because I haven't even seen those S12II units being sold new for a while now, only the S12III, which is considerably less palatable than the S12II IMO.

Plus, with the tariffs and the lack of manufacturing production and shipping from China since around late January or February, I think it's likely to be a while before we see any of those kinds of usable budget models at those kinds of prices, if we ever do again.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I'm almost certain the M12ii and S12ii are no longer in production.

Corsair CV550 is $37 with rebate which is a good price given everything, but I can't reccomend one of them.

Here are a few options:
Thermaltake Toughpower GX2 600 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (PS-TPD-0600NNFAGU-2) - PCPartPicker $55
Antec NeoECO Gold ZEN 600 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (NE600G ZEN) - PCPartPicker $55
both after MIR though.

 

[Darkbreeze]

"After MIR", therein lies the problem for me. That means, it is not IN that price range. When somebody says "60 bucks or less", I generally assume that to not mean "60 bucks or less after rebate" but rather "I have 60 bucks to spend, period, and that needs to include taxes and shipping fees if there are any"

 

[InvalidError]

When somebody says "60 bucks or less", I generally assume that to not mean "60 bucks or less after rebate" but rather "I have 60 bucks to spend, period, and that needs to include taxes and shipping fees if there are any"

I'm not a fan of MIR either, often got to jump through more hoops than the rebate is worth to apply for it and there is a chance you won't get it either. I'm with you about "when I have $x to spend NOW, I mean NOW", not after waiting 2-6 months to cash in an MIR.

I haven't bothered with an MIR since the $50 (CAN) on my Audigy 2 ZS unless it is an "instant MIR" type deal... and since I am in Canuckistan, I lost ~$10 of the MIR on banking fees and exchange fees because Creative sent me a check in USD. I also spent $8 on tracked mail to make sure I wouldn't get cheated by a "never received" claim. Kind of sucks to have to spend more than 1/3 of what the MIR is worth on the application and cashing in.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Even without rebate the thermaltake is $65

 

[Darkbreeze]

I know not everybody is going to agree, but for myself, I would never use or recommend a unit that has absolutely no legitimate reviews out there, especially when it is sold by a big name company like Thermaltake and is (At least loosely) part of the "Toughpower" family. If Thermaltake lacks enough faith in this unit to send out review samples, then I lack enough faith in it to recommend it. And if they believed the unit would withstand the scrutiny of a review, they WOULD have sent out samples to at least a handful of review sites.

 

[InvalidError]

And if they believed the unit would withstand the scrutiny of a review, they WOULD have sent out samples to at least a handful of review sites.

How many PSU reviewers are left? They used to be everywhere. Now, thanks to tech press consolidation by outfits like Future that fill their pages with clickbait and cannot spare much screen space for critical articles that won't generate affiliate link revenue, there are almost none left.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Well, I agree, but there IS still Aris, who does reviews for both Tom's hardware and TechpowerUP. Then there is Taz, doing reviews for the JonnyGuru site since Oklahoma Wolf has now retired. Beyond that there are three people including Ryan Smith doing in depth PSU reviews at Anandtech. Paul Johnson who was the PSU editor at HardOCP for 12 years, is now over at The FPS review which has a lot of the old HardOCP cast and crew.

Allan Campbell over at Kitguru does a passable in depth review, although I wouldn't put the reviews on that site at the level of Aris, they are certainly far more than unboxing and software readings reviews.

Tweaktown's doesn't have an acceptable reviewer. Techspot either. Bit-tech also does a passable review, although that seems to be more of a team effort than any individual's. That's just the ones that I personally appreciate. There are certainly others, some of which are halfway decent but are in other languages, so I usually don't bother with them because I prefer to not read Google translates version that often comes out more like "This ham sandwich definitely has gold teeth on the backside, but we feel like the performance can smell like sand." They are out there though, and some of them are VERY adept, as evidenced by any conversation on the JohnnyGuru forum where you see JonnyGuru (Founder), The Mask, Orion, Philipus II and others there.

I'm certainly not one of them, but I absolutely pay attention and lurk a great deal when it comes to this particular component.

 

[Computanoob]

Radeon gpu older
EVGA 600b
Gigabyte g1 sniper z97

After moving across country with my computer well cushioned in a box I was unable to get it to initially boot and then if it did the display kept freezing up sometimes blue screens or black. I reset the BIOS and CMOS and found that the computer would boot only to lock up eventually after 5 minutes or less. usually it was preceded by a display "driver's have failed and recovered successfully" messaged. I reinstalled windows and then factory reset the computer/wipe the hard drive. Same problem

Then I thought what if I try without the GPU. Without the GPU I was able to get the computer to run fine. Mind you the GPU is very old so it could be failing, but I also didn't know if it was the GPU the motherboard or the power supply. when I try to turn the computer on from a sleep state sometimes the light on the mouse lights up but nothing else, the hard drive and discs don't wake and the keyboard doesn't light up so I have to hit the power button. This never happened before. Also my debug message on the motherboard LED sometimes is saying PCI initialization failed out of resources. so I am guessing this could mean that the power supply is not giving it enough juice or the motherboard is not allowed to get enough juice to The PCI slots. By the way I tried disassembling my GPU and cleaning it and I also tried it in both PCI slots. Same result..

So some of the PSU zealots on here highly encouraged me to just get a new power supply because I have a EVGA 600B not exactly a good one.

So I went ahead and bought a 1660 super because I needed a new GPU anyway and that has arrived but I'm still waiting on my super flower l e a d e x in the mail. I know that I should wait for the PSU to arrive to test the GPU. But my question is if it is the motherboard is it even safe to do that? If I put the new PSU in there and the new GPU and the motherboard is bad is it unsafe for the new GPU? Any other ideas about my situation and what is going on?
Thanks

 

[jay32267]

". when I try to turn the computer on from a sleep state sometimes the light on the mouse lights up but nothing else, the hard drive and discs don't wake and the keyboard doesn't light up so I have to hit the power button. "
Does this happen with the GPU connected?

 

[Computanoob]

". when I try to turn the computer on from a sleep state sometimes the light on the mouse lights up but nothing else, the hard drive and discs don't wake and the keyboard doesn't light up so I have to hit the power button. "
Does this happen with the GPU connected?

no its using the IGPU as ive been doing the last few couple weeks

 

[jay32267]

no its using the IGPU as ive been doing the last few couple weeks

I would wait for the new PSU and when you get it try it with the 1660 super.

" If I put the new PSU in there and the new GPU and the motherboard is bad is it unsafe for the new GPU? "

I would be surprised....if a bad motherboard...in this situation with a brand new PSU....would damage the GPU.

....and I'm am leaning on that it's not the motherboard and that it's the PSU because I think it's "most likely".

 

[Darkbreeze]

Looks like your thread got merged. In the future, I'm sure they would prefer that you stick to ONE thread per topic. No need to open additional threads for the same topic. It's a waste of time, space and energy for everybody involved.